Beautiful C++: 30 Core Guidelines for Writing Clean, Safe, and Fast Code

Chapter 3.5

E.28: Avoid error handling based on global state (e.g. errno)

Error handling is hard

There may be some people whose code never goes wrong and is perfect in every way at all times. Sadly, for us mere mortals, sometimes things do not go according to plan. This can be for a variety of reasons: the problem was incorrectly specified, or the range of input was exceeded, or the hardware has broken down. It is not usually acceptable for the program to simply shrug its metaphorical shoulders, mumble “meh,” and stop working, nor simply attempt to carry on to the best of its abilities. Programs are not people: they are machines, with moving parts and without con-science. They are supremely good at doing what they are told, although you may ...